Electric vehicles, such as full hybrid-electric vehicles (FHEV), plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEV), and battery electric vehicles (BEV), include batteries that store energy that the vehicle uses to operate. One relatively convenient location for the batteries is beneath the floor of the vehicle to prevent creating additional packaging constraints in areas of the vehicle where space is crowded and/or valuable, e.g., the engine compartment, the trunk space, etc.
This location, however, may expose the batteries to damage during vehicle impacts, e.g., side impacts. There remains an opportunity to design a vehicle with the batteries beneath the floor of the vehicle while also providing adequate protection to the batteries.